Troy Posted January 18, 2023 Report Share Posted January 18, 2023 Dear Friends, Last year marked our 55th anniversary in the publishing business. We are very proud to have built the oldest, independent, continuously operating Black publishing company in the nation. In October, we celebrated with gusto and invited our supporters, friends, authors and family to our headquarters to commemorate with us. The winter season is traditionally busy for us as we fill holiday orders for the Kwanzaa and Christmas gift giving season. This year however, our efforts were dampened when a water pipe burst beneath our building on a Friday night and quickly flooded the entire basement. Unfortunately, the flooded area housed the major portion of Third World Press’ backlist as well as front-listed books. Our loss has been overwhelming and financially crippling. Our lost inventory consisted of many of our best sellers and included books by Gwendolyn Brooks, Chancellor Williams, Adelaide Sanford, Fred Hord, Diane Turner, Thabiti Lewis, John Henrik Clarke, Herb Boyd, Edmund W. Gordon, Angela Jackson, Useni Eugene Perkins, Jacqueline Bryant, Keith Gilyard, Jacob H. Carruthers, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Christine List, Haki R. Madhubuti and, and many others. To say that we are devastated is an understatement. We desperately need your help. The considerable dollar amount of our loss is approximately $95,000 based upon damaged books, furniture, computers, bookshelves, workers’ regular and overtime pay for clean-up and the relocation of salvageable books to the first floor. We were forced to close the last two weeks of December and the first week of January, thereby losing sales for the year-end holidays and fundraising. These activities make up over one quarter of our annual revenue. If we are to survive this catastrophe, we earnestly need your help. We have a 501C3 status and your donations are tax deductible within the full extent of the law. No contribution is too small. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity during this trying time. Sincerely, Haki R. Madhubuti on behalf of the Third World Press Foundation Staff and Volunteers Click to DONATE 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer1 Posted January 18, 2023 Report Share Posted January 18, 2023 Wow...terrible news. When it comes to rare and precious books, especially the originals where there are no other copies....they should be kept in some sort of vault protected as best as you can from disasters and natural elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfD Posted January 18, 2023 Report Share Posted January 18, 2023 That's interesting on several levels. The 1st thing that comes to mind is insurance. Surely, Third World Press (TWP) has some type of insurance coverage considering the nature of their valuables. TWP is a multimillion dollar business. Having to GoFundMe $95k seems strange. Ingram Content Group (ICG) is the distribution company for TWP. ICG is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries which posted $2.4 billion in revenue last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted January 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2023 @Pioneer1 I don't know, but I believe the books were inventory. The rare stuff is probably at the U of Chicago or wherever Haki's, Brooks, etc all papers are stored. 4 hours ago, ProfD said: That's interesting on several levels. The 1st thing that comes to mind is insurance. True. 4 hours ago, ProfD said: Surely, Third World Press (TWP) has some type of insurance coverage considering the nature of their valuables. Apparently, they feel they need the money. 4 hours ago, ProfD said: TWP is a multimillion dollar business. Having to GoFundMe $95k seems strange. What makes you think they are a multi-million dollar business? I don't think they are... 4 hours ago, ProfD said: Ingram Content Group (ICG) is the distribution company for TWP. ICG is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries which posted $2.4 billion in revenue last year. That does not mean anything. Ingram distributes my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 Insurance may have helped. But there has to be an insurer willing to underwrite the risk for reasonable premiums. Floods, fire and structural collapse are the three enemies of longevity for written materials housed in buildings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted January 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 Kyrie Irving donated $50K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now